This morning, reading The Imitation of Christ, I meditated on this passage:
A bad use or neglect of our spiritual progress makes us careless of what we say. However, devout conversation on spiritual matters is beneficial to the soul, especially when people who are congenial in mind and spirit are drawn together in God.
Two things here: 1) a warning against careless speech, a temptation for all of us. And we would do well to expand it to consider our "speech" on social media. 2) an encouragement to pray together, "For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." [Matt 18:20].
It set me thinking.
I have a suffering friend and thought it might be a blessing for her to have lunch with people with whom she has a close relationship. I brought it up and she was hesitant. So I have decided to arrange the luncheon and invite her letting her know who is on the guest list. She can decide then whether she wishes to come or not. If she comes, praise God! We will affirm and encourage her. If she chooses not to come, we will all pray for her together.
When my husband and I bought Camp Kreitzer, it was with the intention of offering refuge and hospitality -- to our own family first and then others.
My husband was out yesterday and ran into a young woman who lived with us for a time with her little boy. Her situation is much more stable than it was three years ago when a mutual friend called me and described her situation and asked for help. They lived with us for three months and then we encouraged the mom to seek assistance from Family Promise. She did and got into an apartment where she still lives. We still pray for them. I hope you will too.
I would also appreciate your prayers for my troubled friend and her situation. Life is difficult and sometimes we make it even more difficult for ourselves by our decisions. Prayer is the balm that can make facing the challenges of life easier and help us recognize the blessing of the cross.
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Pray to someone who is not allowed to be a priest or even spesk in church. That's how you get the best results.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a problem with the rosary? Then you have a problem with the Scripture since it is a biblical prayer. It begins with the Apostles Creed. Do you have a problem with the creed that describes the beliefs of all Christians? How about the six Our Fathers, the prayer Jesus taught?
ReplyDeleteDo you have a problem with the words of the angel to Mary in the gospel Luke? How about the Glory be to the Holy Trinity.
The meditations of the rosary are about the life of Jesus from His conception and nativity to the coming of the Holy Spirit. The last two glorious mysteries show how Jesus honored His mother when she was assumed into heaven and crowned as queen. Her entire role in life and now in heaven is to do the will of God and magnify Him among us. All her actions lead us to God, nothing to glorify herself.
If I insulted your mother would you be offended? If not, you are not much of a son. (I'm presuming you are a man since you used the masculine ending in your fake name.) Jesus honored His Mother and His foster father following the commandment that He gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. Or don't you believe in the ten commandments?
I will offer the rosary for you today as one of my intentions. Mary is your mother too. It's a pitiful and shameful thing to dishonor your mother. When you dishonor her, you dishonor Jesus.
Not posting any more of your comments, Nepaliatano, as you are obviously anti-Catholic and know absolutely nothing about the rosary. As for the translation, "full of grace" it is close to the original language:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.catholic.com/qa/full-of-grace-versus-highly-favored
“Full of grace” is literally “pleres charitos,” and that wording is used in reference to Jesus (John 1:14) and to St. Stephen (Acts 6:8). Obviously, its used with two different meanings in those two passages, but its meaning is clearly gleamed by its context. Technically, anyone who was recently baptized or received the sacrament of confession is pleres charitos.
In Luke 1:28, the word that the angel uses is kecharitomene. So it’s not literally “full of grace,” but its root word is the Greek verb “to give grace” (charitoo). The word is the past perfect tense, meaning that the action of giving grace has already occurred. It was not something that was about to happen to her but something that has already been accomplished. The word was also used as a title. The angel did not say, “Hail Mary, you are kecharitomene” but rather, “Hail kecharitomene.” Therefore the word is not simply an action but an identity.It is thus difficult to translate because it is a unique use of the word. It has been translated by various scholars as “full of grace”, “graced one,” “one who has been made graced,” “highly graced,” and “highly favored.” In the last instance the translator is using the concept that to be graced by God is to find favor with God. It would appear that any translation should use the word “grace,” because that is the root word.
Nep is a troll. Don't feed trolls. It takes up too much of your time. Rarely does a sane person's reply enter a troll brain as food for thought.
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